


Bucky Barnes and the Stellio Aquatilium

by onecent



Series: Winterhawk Week 2016 [8]
Category: Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: A Mysterious Egg, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Bisexual Clint Barton, Deaf Clint Barton, Getting Together, Misunderstandings, Multi, Winterhawk Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-29
Updated: 2016-05-29
Packaged: 2018-07-10 19:52:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7004170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onecent/pseuds/onecent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky Barnes is captain of the Hufflepuff quidditch team, has a good group of friends, and is taking just enough classes to get ready for a career as a magical engineer. Sure, his Care of Magical Creatures class is looking to be harder than he thought, and he hates one of his roommates, but he's not going to let that stop him from making his last year at Hogwarts his best.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Egg

**Author's Note:**

> The fantastic art throughout this series is done by the incredible [templeait](http://templeait.tumblr.com). If you like it, check out their blog for more amazing pieces.
> 
> Disclaimer: I put approximately as much thought into world building as Rowling did. Please don't focus too heavily on the details.

Bucky sat on his bed, staring at the egg in front of him. It was large, maybe 20 cm long and weighing a couple kilograms. The vibrant green of the shell was marked with swirls and curls all across it.

“What’s that?” Steve asked, walking in with an arm curled around Sam’s waist. They sat down together on the bed next to Bucky’s.

Bucky narrowed his eyes at the egg. “I think it’s mocking me,” he declared. Then he looked up at Sam and Steve and rolled his eyes. “You know, I remember when you used to come over to hang out with me.”

Steve shrugged. “What can I say? Your roommate’s hot.”

Bucky turned his frown on Sam. "You couldn't have waited to ask him out until after we graduated?"

Sam grinned, unrepentant. "Your best friend's hot. And nice, and brave, and smart, and--"

Bucky groaned and went back to staring at the egg. "Just keep the snogging to a minimum while I'm in the room. I don't need to see any of that."

Steve let go of Sam to come over to Bucky's bed and get a closer look at the egg. "This your final project for Hagrid?" he asked.

"Yeah," Bucky sighed. “Remind me again why I chose to take his class my last year?”

“You thought it would be easy,” Sam said. “And I told you it wouldn’t, and you didn’t listen to me, and now you’re suffering, and I feel strangely pleased with myself.”

Before Bucky could start fighting too much with Sam, Steve leaned over and tapped the egg. “It’s cold,” he said. “What kind of egg is it?”

“That’s part of the project,” Bucky replied. “Determine what creature it is and properly care for it. And I don’t even know where to start on figuring out what it is, let alone knowing what to do with it. How long do you think I can last before he finds out it’s dead?”

The dorm door swung open again. “Please tell me no one is naked!” came the voice from the door.

“It was one time!” Steve called back. “Let it go!”

Clint came into the room with his hand still covering his eyes. “That’s still not a promise everyone is clothed.”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Everyone is fully clothed. Like they have been the last twenty times you checked.”

“It only takes one time for a man to be changed forever,” Clint said, dropping his hand. His gaze immediately locked onto the egg on Bucky’s bed. “Is that a water dragon egg?”

“You recognize it?” Bucky asked.

“I mean, I think I do. Never seen one in person before.” Clint came over and squatted next to the bed. “Mind if I hold it?”

Bucky glanced over at Sam and Steve, who both shrugged noncommittally. “Uh,” Bucky said, looking back to Clint, “Sure.”

Clint lifted the egg with both hands and brought it up close to his face. He spun it a few times, running his fingers along the grooves. “Wow, this is beautiful. Definitely a water dragon, looks like sea water. You should make sure to get it into a saltwater bath soon, though. Look here.” He held it toward Bucky and pointed to a spot on the shell. “These will turn into permanent fractures if you’re not careful. And that'll affect the creature's health when it hatches.”

Bucky accepted the egg back from Clint and squinted at the spot he’d pointed to. “Uh, thanks,” he said, looking up from the egg to Clint, who was smiling down at him. “How uh, how long should I put it in the water for?”

“It’s probably tidal,” Clint said with a shrug. “So about six hours in the water, six hours out. But once it’s closer to hatching you’ll need to pull it out and get it warm.” He walked over to his bed and kicked his shoes off before flopping down. “So why do you have an egg? Practicing for when you and Danny get married?” His tone went sour on the last question.

Bucky sighed. This was why he hated talking to Clint. “No, it’s for class. Care of Magical Creatures. And Danny and I broke up.”

“Oh yeah?” Clint said, lifting his head from the bed. “Well I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah, you sound devastated,” Bucky muttered. He stood with the egg and started rooting around for his spare cauldron. “I’m gonna go try to put together a bath for this. Steve, mind letting me into the prefects bathroom?”

Steve nodded. He leaned over to peck Sam on the cheek and whisper something that Bucky was glad not to hear, and then they headed out together.

Bucky waited until they were in the hall corridor before he started complaining. “Can the guy be any less subtle?” he growled.

“What are we discussing here, exactly?” Steve asked. “Before I stick my foot in my mouth.”

“That homophobic asshole,” Bucky explained. “He’s always around canoodling with his girlfriends, but the second you and Sam start kissing he gets all righteous and afraid to even be in the room.”

“He did catch us doing a little more than kissing,” Steve said, looking away to try and hide his blush.

Bucky snorted. “Yeah, right. And then he’s actively disliked every guy I’ve been with. He’s always shooting us evil looks like he thinks I won’t notice. It’s disgusting. Here I figure, I’m in Hufflepuff, the people I’m living with should be accepting and willing to deal with something a little new. And I still end up rooming with someone who looks down his nose just because I’m gay.”

“He hasn’t really said anything about me and Sam, though,” Steve tried to argue. “Not until he caught us in bed, anyway. And I think it’s mostly meant as a joke. A bad one, but not because we’re both guys or anything.”

“Don’t feel like you have to defend him, Steve,” Bucky said. He waited outside the door to the prefects bathroom until Steve could open it for him. “He’s an ass. Even if he weren’t a homophobe, he’s disgusting, barely ever cleans up after himself, and ignores people half the time they’re trying to talk to him. I’m just glad to only have one more year of living with him.”

[ ](http://i.imgur.com/DhrnoL2.jpg)

With his back turned to Bucky as he opened the door, Steve rolled his eyes. “Thank god,” he said.

The door opened to a cascade of bubbles and some familiar shouts. Steve and Bucky jumped back from the mess, Bucky holding the egg high above his head with the cauldron hanging off his elbow.

“Tony, I am sick of telling you! You can’t just make up spells and expect them to work the first time!”

“This isn’t the first time. I’ve been developing this one for a week now. And it did work, mostly. I definitely smell lavender.”

“Oh for the love of…” Bucky muttered, wading in through the bubble mess. “Bruce, I thought you said you weren’t going to let Tony into the prefects’ room again.” He set the cauldron down on the edge of a sink and looked around the bubble-filled room. “Where are you guys?”

A hand stuck out of an alcove along the back wall and waved up and down. “We’re ah, just doing a little maintenance,” Tony shouted from behind the wall.

Bruce actually stuck his head out and gave a small wave. “Hey Steve, Bucky. Sorry about the mess. I’m going to make Tony clean it up. And with an actual spell, not one he modified.”

“But my mopping spell has gotten really good!”

“Don’t mind us,” Steve said. “We’re just here to grab some salt water for Bucky’s egg.”

“Egg?” Tony’s head joined Bruce’s in popping around the corner. “What egg?”

Bucky held up the egg in one hand and used the other to slide the cauldron under a faucet. “It’s for class. Water dragon.”

Bruce wrinkled his nose. “You’re trying to hatch a dragon? In your room?” He stepped out from the alcove.

“I’m sure it’s not a big deal.” Bucky finished filling the cauldron and stuck his tongue out. “Anyone know a spell for salt?”

“They have bath salts along the wall.” Steve pointed to a row of canisters on a shelf.

Tony shook his head. “You can’t use those. Those are just epsom salts. Here, I’m sure I can come up with something that’ll get you salt water.” He finally moved away from whatever he was working on.

Bucky yanked his cauldron away. “No, it’s fine, I’ll just take it down to the kitchens. Thanks anyway. Good luck on your lavender…thing.”

Bruce and Tony went back to bickering almost immediately, with Bruce insisting that Pepper didn’t even like lavender, why were they making such an effort for this, and Tony assuring him it was just a step along the process. Bucky was glad again he hadn’t ended up with the Ravenclaws. They were all nuts.

“Do you want me to walk you down to the kitchens?” Steve asked once they were clear of the bathroom. “Do you even know how much salt to put in?”

“Enough to make it like the ocean?” Bucky said with a shrug. “Do you think it needs anything more specific?”

“I think finding out what might kill your egg is probably a good idea. And also finding out if you’re going to end up having an actual dragon wandering around our dorm room.”

Bucky raised an eyebrow. “Our dorm room? Steve, I know you like to hang out with us, but you’re the one who betrayed us all for Gryffindor.”

“You’re avoiding the question.”

“And you’re worrying too much. I’m sure Hagrid wouldn’t have given me an actual dragon to try to raise in the castle.” Bucky took a moment to consider his statement. He bit his bottom lip and sighed. “But I’ll double-check just in case.”

“You should ask Clint,” Steve suggested.

Bucky actually stopped in the hall and stared at his friend. “Do you not remember the part where Clint is an asshole and I don’t want to associate with him? Or was that not a conversation we had literally ten minutes ago in this exact same hallway?”

“I’m just saying that he seems to have a lot of information on this kind of thing. Since you’re so opposed to going to the library and doing some actual research, I figured it might be a useful resource.”

“You’re a useful resource,” Bucky muttered.

“What?” Steve asked.

“Nothing.” Bucky sighed again. “Fine! I’ll ask Clint. At least the guy is good for something.”

“You could offer to help him with his spellwork. He always had a harder time in Charms.”

“And everything else.”

Steve tapped at the barrels for the Hufflepuff entrance and it opened for them. “Look, all I’m saying is maybe give the guy a shot. There might be more to him than you think.”

“Don’t get your hopes up. I’m going to get help for the egg, and that’s all.”

They headed back through the Hufflepuff common room toward Bucky’s dorm, where Steve slotted back into the space next to Sam. Bucky took a moment to be jealous over their relationship before turning to Clint with a forced smile. Clint was sprawled on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

“Hey, so, Clint,” Bucky said, clearing his throat. Clint took a deep breath through his nose and rolled his head over to look at Bucky. “Um,” Bucky continued, “so I’m having a little trouble with this whole…egg project. And since you seem to know a lot about it, maybe you could help me out?”

Clint looked from Bucky’s face down to the egg in his outstretched hand and back up. “Sure you want my help?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m uh, kind of out of my depth here with this, so if maybe you could, and then I could maybe help you with, I don’t know. Some of your spellwork maybe?”

Clint sat up in the bed. His eyes drifted to a spot past Bucky’s shoulder, but when Bucky turned he just saw Sam and Steve bent over something between them. When Bucky turned back, Clint was giving him a thoughtful look. “Put me on the team,” he said.

“What?”

“You’re quidditch captain this year,” Clint said. “Put me on the team and I’ll help you with your egg.”

Bucky growled. “No. You want to be on the team, you try out just like everyone else. I’m not screwing up the team just to pass a class.”

“All right, fine. Then help me with my astronomy work. I’ve gotta do a lot of observations this year and I really don’t get it.”

Astronomy? Clint couldn’t understand astronomy? How much easier could it get? Bucky scoffed internally. “Yeah, sure, I can do that. Just let me know when.”

“Ooh, your roommates will be out most of the night,” Steve said to Sam, showing just how much he’d been eavesdropping on the conversation.

Bucky whipped his head around. “Not the whole night,” he warned.

“And I have three roommates. We still will have Logan around,” Sam added. “We’ll save the sleepovers for after we get done with school.”

“Thank god,” Clint sighed. Bucky turned and shot a glance at Steve, raising his eyebrows as if to say ‘ _See?_ ’ Steve just rolled his eyes and shrugged. Clint continued by standing and coming over to Bucky’s bed. He dipped a finger into the cauldron and pulled it out to suck on it. “Where did you get this from? It’s not salty at all.”

“I just went down to the bathroom,” Bucky said with a shrug. “I can just dump some salt into it.”

Clint groaned and reached up to rub the bridge of his nose. “No, that’s not…here, just…” He pulled out his wand and dipped it into the water. He muttered under his breath and spun the wand three times counter-clockwise before pulling the wand out and shaking it in the air. He dipped his finger in again and stuck it in his mouth before smiling. “There. Next time you should try to get it from an actual body of saltwater, or go get some of the special dissolving salts. Now put the egg in.”

Bucky looked from the cauldron up to Clint. “Why can’t I just learn that spell you used?”

“Um.” Clint glanced up at Bucky and away. “It’s uh, more for emergencies. It’ll be better if you get something else, but this’ll work for now. Here, just put the egg in. It’s starting to lose its color.”

“Well if it’s not that great how can I trust it won’t do something to my egg?” Bucky argued.

The egg suddenly lifted out of Bucky’s hand and dropped into the water. Steve brushed his hands off and went back to sitting on the bed. Sam sighed with relief. “Thank you. That was getting bloody annoying.”

The egg floated for a moment before bobbing down and resting on the bottom of the cauldron. Bucky leaned over to watch it for a minute, but it just sat without doing anything. “It just stays like that?”

“For now.” Clint went back to his bed and started rooting around under it. “I’m gonna head out to the library. I promised to meet Nat so we could, uh, work together. On stuff.” He pulled out a bundle of cloth and stuffed it into a messenger bag along with a few books. “I’ll see you guys later. Try not to break anything.”

Bucky waited until the door was closed before huffing loudly. “God, he’s such a pretentious ass.” He turned to Sam and Steve. “Did you see that?”

“Uh…no?” Sam starts before Steve elbows him in the side.

“You’ll just have to get through it if you want to pass your class,” Steve said. “Better brush up on your constellations, too.”

Bucky waved a hand dismissively. “Yeah, yeah. I’ve got some time. I’ll do it later. I’ve got a meeting in a few hours to discuss the quidditch schedule for the year, and now that I don’t have a dying egg on my hands I need to get started on my transfiguration project. Then I have my calculus homework, and my paper to write for dark arts. The astronomy thing can wait. That’ll be easy.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “If you say so.”


	2. Astronomy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Art by [templeait](http://templeait.tumblr.com).

“Oh my god why is astronomy so hard?”

Sam looked up from his spot across the table from Bucky. “Really,” he deadpans. “Fascinating. I had no idea that was going to happen to you.”

“Shut the hell up, Sam.” Bucky groaned and put his head down on the open book in front of him. “I’m supposed to go up with Clint tonight, and I don’t even know three of these. And I looked at some of the work he’s doing? It’s like, calculating the trajectories of heavenly bodies and determining upcoming magical convergences. There’s planets, constellations, comets, and that doesn’t even include the stuff that you can’t really predict!”[](http://i.imgur.com/t4JZ2SY.jpg)

“Aren’t you in calculus? That sounds like mostly math to me, and maybe some physics. Combined with knowledge of the meanings assigned to each planet.”

Bucky looked up to glare at Sam. “Yeah, that’s all. Just some calculus and physics. But physics I don’t know the formulas for yet, I just need to figure it out on my own. Thank you, Sam, that’s very helpful.”

Sam shrugged and sat back in his chair. “You’re the one who insisted on putting this off until the last minute.”

“I’ve been busy! Thor’s been demanding all the best times for the Gryffindor team and Loki’s been throwing up a fit about it and he’s not even on the Slytherin team he’s just trying to annoy Thor, and trying to navigate them without getting blasted to pieces is a chore in itself, let alone trying to get field time. I couldn’t even get tryouts scheduled until next week! And Professor Pym decided to assign another big project for transfiguration, where I have to develop my own spell and demonstrate it by Christmas. I don’t have time to be learning astronomy, too!”

“Then tell Clint. No point going out with him if you’re not going to be any help. And it’ll cut into your sleep to be out like that.”

Bucky growled and glared back down at the book. “No. No, I’m not going to let that smug bastard beat me in this.”

“Oh my god. Oh my god, where is Steve, this is…this is so dumb…” Sam turned to look around the library, then sighed and puts his face in his hands. “Who am I kidding. Steve is just as dumb. He’s been letting you, letting me let you…I can’t stand this anymore.” He slammed his book closed and started packing up. “I need to leave. Maybe I’ll go find Natasha and commiserate with her for a bit.”

Bucky blinked in surprise. “Since when are you on good terms with Natasha?”

Sam gave him a tired look. “We have a regular support group. You’re never invited ever.” He threw all his books in his bag and left.

Bucky watched him go before returning to the astronomy book. He stared at it until his vision blurred and his head started to droop. He jerked up when the chair next to him scraped back and someone dropped into the seat.

“I think I have the solution.” Pepper pulled out a bunch of scrolls and drops them onto the table. “For the first month we’ll have extra practices to get everyone into shape, and then once the games start we cut down to twice a week, one earlier and one later.” She unrolled one of the scrolls to reveal a chart. “Now I’ve been planning a schedule, but I need to know if it works with your players—“

Bucky held up a hand. “Hold up, wait, just a minute.” He looked down at the chart and up at Pepper. “You’re not even on the Ravenclaw team. What are you doing here?”

“I’m the team manager. No one else wanted to organize the meetings, so I’m doing it. I’m hoping you can approve the new schedule with me, and then we can take it together to the brothers. Now, we can probably get Thor on our side if we emphasize the increased practice time for the first month, but Loki is going to be trickier. We’ll need to make him think that he came up with the idea and then let him delegate to us. Your choice which one you talk to.”

Bucky frowned and looked down at the plan in his hand. “Why come to me first?”

“Because out of the three captains you’re the one that seems most sane. Though I am forced to use that word loosely around here. Now.” Pepper handed Bucky one of the scrolls. “How do you want to split this up? You’ve got an in on the Gryffindor team because of Steve, but if you’ve got any ideas about Loki I’d really appreciate the advice. I don’t really know anyone from Slytherin.”

“I don’t know…” Bucky trailed off while looking over Pepper’s proposed schedule. It definitely looked like an improvement over the existing set-up. “What about Natasha?”

Pepper frowned. “Think she’d help? There’s not much reason for her to.”

“I can probably come up with something.” Bucky sighed and rubbed his hands down his face. “Could maybe ask—Clint!” He stood up suddenly, looking around wildly for the clock. “What time is it?”

“A little after nine. I’ve been working on this schedule since after supper. It’s—“

“Damn! I gotta go, I’m gonna be late.” Bucky closed the book and started stacking all his things up into his arms. “I’m supposed to be on top of the astronomy tower like, now. I gotta go. This looks great, though. I’ll see what I can do to get everyone else to agree. I’ll see you later.”

Pepper rolled her eyes. “Yeah, all right. I’ll be in touch.”

Bucky tucked his loose papers in between the books and walked as quickly as he could out of the library. He skipped going to the common room and headed straight for the astronomy tower. When he got to the top, Clint was already sitting there, curled over his work. He looked up when the door opened and smiled.

“You made it!” He looked Bucky up and down. “Fall asleep in the library again?”

“Shut up,” Bucky said. He sat down on the bench next to Clint. “All right, so what am I helping you with?”

Clint glanced at the books in Bucky’s lap and grinned. “There’s a meteor shower tonight,” he said. “We’re counting how many we see in five-minute increments over the course of an hour. The numbers will be recorded and compared to fluxes in magical power. But for now, it’s just counting.”

“And you needed help with that?”

“I get bored.” Clint shrugged. “And it also tends to get cold up here. Do you have a jacket?”

“No, but I’ll be fine.” Bucky put his stack of books on the ground and crossed his arms over his chest. “So when do we start counting?”

“I just finished recording the first set of data,” Clint said. “I’ve got a timer running for the next bit…and it looks like we’ve got two minutes.” He held up a small white box with numbers counting down.

Bucky stared at the object. “What is that?”

“It’s uh, it’s a timer,” Clint said. “It’s about the most sophisticated electronic I can get to work here, probably because it’s not super complicated and can’t manage to become sentient. Not yet, anyway. I got myself a graphing calculator once for my math homework, and it started cussing me out and making rude drawings. I had to get rid of it.”

“What is a graphing calculator?” Bucky asked.

Clint sighed. “Right, muggle tech. Uh. It’s to help with math. You plug in a formula and it shows it to you on the screen. Really useful, you know, when you’re not at a magical school.”

“Oh.” Bucky looks at the timer again as it counts down to one minute. “So you don’t like being here?”

“No! No, don’t get me wrong, I love it. I just wish that muggle tech and magic got along better.” Clint smiles a bit and scratches at his ear. “It would make life a lot easier, I think.”

The timer beeped, and Clint immediately looked up to the sky. “All right, I noticed them at about one every fifteen seconds last time. I’m resetting the timer for five minutes. Count every streak you see.”

Bucky occupied himself with searching the skies for meteors while he considered what he knew about Clint’s life outside school, aside from the fact that he was muggle-born. He knew Clint didn’t go home over Christmas and didn’t receive a lot of packages from anyone. And…that was about it, really. Bucky had spent his first couple years at school not wanting to hang out with anyone except for Steve, and Clint had basically kept to himself as well except for bonding with Natasha Romanov, of all people, who in her first week at school had broken a kid’s finger when he tapped her shoulder. She’d also been found a few days later standing over the body of a dead bird, glaring down at it. Most of the school had since been terrified of her, and by extension been a little wary of anyone who was close to her. Then to add to the distance, Clint had gone and freaked out the first time he caught Bucky kissing a guy in the Hufflepuff common room, and they had mostly avoided each other since.

The timer went off in Bucky’s hand. “I counted thirty-two that time,” Clint said. “What did you get?”

“Uh, thirty-four,” Bucky said, making up a number since he hadn’t actually been paying any attention.

Clint nodded. “Okay, then we’ll split it and say thirty-three.” He took the timer and hit a few more buttons. “Next round is in ten minutes.” He frowned at Bucky’s arms, still crossed over his chest. “Sure you’re not cold? I can try to grab a blanket or jacket or something.”

Bucky’s eyes narrowed. “I’m fine.” He looked around. “So what are we supposed to do for the next ten minutes while we’re waiting?”

“We could talk.”

“Uh.” No. Please no. “Okay.” Damn. He was going to end up spending the next two hours talking to this guy. And more throughout the year. This was a horrible idea. “What do you want to talk about?” Maybe he should start bringing his extra homework up.

“How’s the quidditch team shaping up?” Clint offered. “You’ve got a couple of spots to fill. Any good candidates yet?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. We’ve got Daisy stepping in as Keeper, that should be great. Still looking for a Chaser, and then I’ve gotta find someone Wade can work with to be our new Beater, and we’ll have a new Seeker.” Bucky huffed, remembering his chore list from Pepper. “But none of it’s gonna happen unless I can figure out how to get the schedule put together.”

“Anything I can do to help?”

The pieces fell together in Bucky’s head. Clint was friends with Natasha, Natasha was perhaps one of the only people at the school who could manipulate Loki, Loki was the one who had to approve the schedule. Ergo, Clint actually could help.

“There might be something…”

“Yeah? What is it? I’m happy to help in whatever way I can.”

Bucky looked up at Clint, a little surprised. Was this some sort of weird belated apology for all the shit he’d pulled over the years? Well if it was, Bucky would take it. “How well do you know Loki Laufeyson?”

Clint actually jerked at the name. “Uh. We’ve uh. We’ve met.” He scratched at his ears again. “Why?”

“He’s leading the Slytherin team this year, and he’s being a real dick about getting the schedule set up. We need someone to talk him into quote-unquote making us do a schedule that we then approve with Thor so they don’t end up killing each other.”

Clint shifted in his seat. “I don’t think I’m who you want helping with that,” he said.

“Could you talk to Natasha about it?”

“I don’t…” Clint sighed and looked over at Bucky. Bucky gave him his best hopeful look, ignoring for a moment how much he disliked the guy and focusing on how much he needed his help. Clint finally smiled. “I’ll do what I can?”

“That’s great!” Bucky flashed him a wide grin. “Thanks for your help.”

“Yeah.” Clint smiled back. “Anything for--uh. Anything for a friend.” He glanced down and away, rubbing the back of his neck.

Bucky settled back against the stone wall behind the bench. The night wasn’t going too horribly. He could manage this. Maybe they could--

“Ah, shit.” Clint jerked and started clawing at his ears. “Shit, shit, shit.”

“What? What is it?” Bucky asked, pulling away. “Is it some sort of creature? Is there something up here?”

Clint pulled something out of his ears and glared at them for a minute. Then he let out a long sigh and turned to Bucky with a dejected face. “Sorry. I was afraid this might happen.”

Bucky looked down at the objects in Clint’s hand then back to his face. “What? What are those? What happened?”

“Don’t bother,” Clint said, waving his free hand. “I can’t hear you. Damn. And just when...well. Sorry about that. I guess we’ll have to figure out something else to do while we’re up here, since talking is out of the option.”

Bucky frowned. “Can’t hear me?” he muttered. Then he rummaged in his bag and pulled out a spare piece of parchment and a quill. He scribbled on one corner, “why can’t you hear?” and passed it over to Clint.

Clint seemed puzzled by the question. “Uh, because I’m mostly deaf? And my hearing aids just went on the fritz again?” he said with a shrug. “Same as they always do. I don’t know why I’m surprised. It’s my own damn fault for trying to charge them magically, but none of the nurses here know what to do with it, and they just keep offering me enchanted ear horns, which, no thank you. But I can’t afford new batteries all the time, and there’s no way to charge things here normally.”

Bucky pulled the paper back in and thought for a moment before writing under his original question. “Hearing aids?”

“You...you didn’t…?” Clint went from confused to shocked, and then a little horrified. “I thought you knew,” he said quietly, putting a hand over his mouth. “I didn’t...it’s not like I was trying to hide it from anyone. It’s just not the kind of thing I like to really advertise, you know? I was deaf before I came here, since I was like, six. Souvenir from my deadbeat dad. They said it was too set in to heal, even with magic, so I’ve just sort of been coping. Shit, man, I really thought you knew. I hope you don’t think I was lying to you or anything.”

It explained the constant ignoring, at least, if Clint couldn’t actually hear what was being said some of the time. Maybe also explained some of his problems with spellwork, if he couldn’t hear how to properly pronounce the words. And here Bucky had thought he was just rude and lazy, maybe stupid. Instead it was Bucky that was the idiot.

“It’s okay,” Bucky wrote back. “Sorry about your hearing.”

“It’s seriously okay?” Clint asked, watching Bucky until he nodded and smiled. Then Clint relaxed and sat back again. “It’s fine for me, most of the time. I’m used to it by now. Learned sign language, got my hearing aids when they’re not going on the fritz and spitting out crap into my ears. Plus, bonus, whenever Fury’s going off on one of his long talks about school traditions and all that crap, I can just turn down the volume on my aids and I don’t have to listen to it all.” He grinned and demonstrated reaching up casually to play with his ear. “So, you know. It’s not all bad.”

Bucky scratched away at the paper. “Probably helps you sleep. Logan snores really loud.”

Clint laughed at that, and the sound was so bright and happy that Bucky found himself smiling in response. “Yeah, it kind of does help. A little terrifying sometimes, not knowing what might be sneaking up on you. But definitely helps me deal with snoring roommates. Though if Sam is to be believed, you’re the one that snores the worst.”

“I do not!” Bucky said out loud, then bent over to write it down, underline it, and hold it up with a glare. “Sam’s a goddamn liar,” Bucky said with Clint watching him.

Clint reshaped the words in his own mouth, then smiled. “Did you just accuse Sam, the Hufflepuff prefect, of being a liar?”

“Yes.” Bucky nodded firmly. “Because it’s true.”

Clint laughed again, and Bucky got so caught up in the sound that he nearly missed the beeping of the timer in his hand. He held it up and tapped Clint on the shoulder, then pointed up at the sky.

“All right, you start counting,” Clint said, taking the timer and pressing a few buttons on it. “Five minutes. Tap me again when it beeps.”

Bucky forced himself to focus enough to actually count the streaks this time instead of getting caught up in thinking. When the timer beeped, he tapped Clint’s shoulder and wrote down his count on his scrap paper. Clint nodded and recorded the numbers on his own sheet before packing everything away.

“That should be good for tonight,” he said. “And that’s about it. I just have to do this every week for the next month, and then I’ll get my next assignment. Pretty boring, I know. Thanks for coming with me. And helping with the timer.” He smiled and held one hand palm-in at his chin, then dropped it down in front of him. “That’s thank you in sign language.”

Bucky mimed the gesture and smiled back. “Good to know.” As he followed Clint down into the tower, he actually thought that he might end up using that someday.


	3. Quidditch Tryouts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Art by [templeait](http://templeait.tumblr.com).

As Bucky walked out of his Advanced Charms class, a hand reached out and pulled him into a tight alcove. His back slammed into the wall, and a hand pressed against his chest, pushing the air from his lungs for a moment. Dazed, he looked down at his assailant and caught the flash of red hair alerting him it was Natasha.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” she hissed, glaring up at him.

“Me?” Bucky spluttered once he’d gotten his breath back. “You’re the one attacking people in the halls."

[ ](http://i.imgur.com/CAOduNE.jpg)

She actually growled at him, and pressed hard on his chest before pulling back entirely. “Why’d you bring up Loki to Clint?”

“Uh, because he offered to help and I need to get Loki to agree to the proposed quidditch schedule? It was pretty straightforward.” Bucky rubbed the spot on his chest where Natasha had pushed him.

“And the fact that he absolutely loathes and is terrified of Loki just didn’t bother you? What kind of asshole are you?”

“The kind -- wait, what?” Bucky dropped his hand. “Clint’s what?”

Natasha’s eyes went wide, and she raised her eyebrows in disbelief. “You’re serious,” she said. “You didn’t know about Clint and Loki despite the fact that you’ve been living with the guy for over six years.”

“What about Clint and Loki?” Bucky’s voice dropped. What was going on?

“You absolute...дебил!” Natasha crossed her arms across her chest and glared at Bucky. “The end of third year, Loki got his hands on some unknown magic, a special amulet. He decided to test it out, and he managed to get it activated on Clint. It possessed him, made Clint obedient to whatever Loki said. Took them three days to get it fixed, and Loki never bothered to apologize or anything. Clint won’t talk about it ever, but I’m pretty sure Loki actually gave him orders, treated him like a personal servant for at least part of that time.”

Come to think of it, Bucky vaguely remembered some kerfluffle with Clint that had landed him in the hospital for a while around that time. But no one had talked much about it, and Bucky had assumed Clint had just taken a bad fall again. It wouldn’t have been the first time. “I didn’t...no one ever said…”

“No one said? Or you weren’t listening?” Natasha snapped.

“If that happened, then why wasn’t Loki expelled?”

“He played it off like an accident. And he’s rich. If you’re rich you can do just about anything here.” She snorted and turned her head so she was watching the nearly empty hallway. “He’s also pretty powerful. A lot of people are afraid of him.”

“But you’re not.”

“He’s a fool.” Natasha’s eyes darted toward Bucky and back to the hall. “Like just about everyone else here. And fools are easy to read and to manipulate.” She drops her arms and sighs. “I’ll get Loki to sign your little contract. But you’re going to leave Clint alone. You’ve already hurt him enough.”

“Hurt him enough?” Bucky exclaims. “He--!” But Natasha’s already slipped back into the hall, and when Bucky pokes his head out of the alcove to look for her, she’s gone.

* * *

“All right, badgers, listen up!” Bucky paraded along the line of hopeful candidates for the open Quidditch spots, noting those who looked nervous versus those who looked cocky. Clint was at the far end of the line, leaning more toward the cocky side of things. “We’re going to run a game with two teams so I can get a sense of your skills. This isn’t about winning, it’s about showing who works best together. I’ll be switching up people as we go to see how everyone fits together. For now, line up in your teams as I call you.”

There were a few people from the team the year before who were practically shoo-ins, and Bucky made sure to space them out evenly between the two sides. He was particularly interested in seeing if anyone could play beater opposite Wade, who was a wild card on the best of days but was fantastic at wreaking havoc on the other team. He’d need someone who would be able to bounce off that energy and also protect their own teammates. Not for the first time he wished he could convince Logan to join the team.

There were a few good candidates for chaser, though, and he paired those people up with Sam on one team and under Daisy on the other. Daisy was already set to be the next keeper, but Bucky needed to make sure the new chaser would take direction from someone who’d been on the team longer.

The last spot to fill was for a seeker. A couple people had signed up to try out, Clint included. And if none of them worked out, well, Bucky figured he could probably switch to seeker, since he was the best so far at spotting things on the field.

Once everyone was sorted, Bucky sent them all out onto the field and hauled out the ball box. He had his own broom in hand so he could fly around and keep an eye on everyone. He threw open all the latches, tossed up the quaffle, and flew up to start circling the field.

The first thing he noticed was that Clint had completely disappeared. While Danny, the other seeker candidate, flew in slow circles around the field and searching, Bucky couldn’t even see where Clint had gone off to. But he couldn’t spend all his time looking after his erstwhile roommate. He still had to keep track of the rest of the game.

Settling on a beater proved easier than expected. Luke Cage kept an eye on the ball and his teammates, and he had a wicked swing that knocked the bludgers clear across the field to where Wade was waiting. Picking a chaser was harder, but Bucky liked the attitude Scott Lang brought to the field. He actually listened to both Sam and Daisy, and he threw himself into every move no matter how impossible it looked.

Which just left choosing a seeker. Bucky was about to call the game in favor of Danny Rand when Clint drifted straight down from out of the clouds to hover next to Bucky.

“I see someone’s enjoying himself,” Bucky drawled, cutting a look at Clint. The guy was sitting there like nothing was going on, eating some jelly buttons, of all things.

“Sorry, did you want one?” Clint held out the bag toward Bucky. “Wait, hold up, we’re too far away. Just open your mouth and I’ll throw it in.”

“No, I don’t want any candy,” Bucky snapped. “I want you to take this seriously! Why aren’t you even trying to participate?”

“What, you think I should be out looking for the snitch?”

“Yes!” Bucky threw up his hands.

Clint leaned forward on his broom, resting his crossed arms against the front and somehow not falling off. “If I find the snitch in the next minute, will you put me on the team?”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Sure thing, Clint. One minute. I’ll count.”

A flash of gold sparked in Clint’s hand. He threw the small golden ball over to Bucky, who nearly dropped it in surprise. “How did...what…?”[](http://i.imgur.com/WzQgGsa.jpg)

“Caught that in the first five minutes,” Clint said. He flashed a grin at Bucky. “But everyone was having such a good time I figured it was better not to ruin their fun. Besides, you still needed a chance to figure out the rest of the team.” He sat up again and stretched both arms up. “So when’s the first practice?”

Bucky gaped as he rolled the snitch in his hands. With sudden suspicion, he rolled the ball over until he could see the small ‘H’ carved into the bottom, marking it as the official Hufflepuff practice snitch. “I have to make the official announcement,” he murmured. “Then we start this Friday.”

“Awesome. Are we still on for Thursday night? Astronomy tower, nine o’clock?”

It almost sounded like a date put that way. Bucky tucked the snitch into his pocket. “You still want me to help you with your homework?”

“Sure.” Clint shrugged. “I’m still helping you with yours. Which, by the way, you should know that egg is probably going to hatch sometime this weekend. You’ll need to make sure you’re there so it can imprint on you and you can take care of it without it freaking out and trying to hide behind Steve or whatever else it manages to attach to.”

“Right. Yeah. I’ll be there.” Bucky added the task to his mental to-do list. “I’ve gotta finish up here. See you back at the dorm?”

Clint nodded. “Sure thing. Take care!” He started to drop down again toward the ground.

“Oh, wait, Clint!” Bucky said. He dropped down to meet him, both still hovering in midair. “I’m sorry about the whole Loki thing. I didn’t realize it was such a big deal. Thanks a lot for helping to get that sorted out anyway.”

Clint’s smile was huge and bright, and Bucky felt warmed by it even as he felt ashamed for having hurt Clint at all and angry because hey, fuck this guy, he was still an asshole, and today’s events only proved that more. Clint waved at Bucky. “Like I said, anything to help a friend. Hey, open your mouth.”

Bucky opened his mouth to ask ‘why’ only to have a couple of jelly buttons land on his tongue. He nearly coughed them up in surprise but managed to chew and swallow instead. He turned back to the rest of the players while Clint laughed in the background.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> дебил = moron


	4. The Dragon

The feeling that he was forgetting something important had been nagging Bucky all day. But his Transfiguration homework was done, he was caught up on his Charms reading, had finished his Trigonometry problems, and even took time to track down Pepper and verify the times for the upcoming week before sending out practice schedules to the quidditch team. He didn't have anything planned with Steve and Sam, and those were the only people he really made time for.

He sat in the library, contemplating his closed textbooks as he went over all his classes. Charms, Transfiguration, Trigonometry, History of Magic, Physics of Magic...Magical Creatures. Swearing under his breath, Bucky launched himself to his feet and swept the books into his arms. He half-walked and half-ran back to the dorms.

“Make sure you're back,” Bucky muttered to himself. “And I went and forgot! It's gonna be imprinted on Sam now and I'm gonna have to haul him around with me every time I do anything.” He blew through the Hufflepuff common room, ignoring everyone who called out to him. “Or worse, it'll have imprinted on Logan, or--”

The door flew open in his rush and banged against the inside wall. The noise startled Clint, who was sitting on the floor rocking a small blue-green dragon in his arms.[](http://i.imgur.com/YqMLcp7.jpg)

“Shit,” Bucky said, eyes wide. “I meant to be here, I just forgot. Oh my god, oh shit, shit, shit.” He dumped his books on his bed and slumped on the floor across from Clint. “I'm sorry. How long...when did…?”

“It was maybe thirty minutes ago,” Clint said, looking down at the dragon. It had its eyes closed and was nuzzled against Clint's chest. “Well, that's when it finally got free. Started hatching probably around three hours ago.”

Bucky stared. Three hours? “And you didn't come get me?” he shouted.

The dragon twitched in Clint’s arms, and he started rocking it again. “I didn't want to leave it alone,” he explained. “I sent Sam to go try to find you. I'm guessing he didn't.”

“I never saw him.” Bucky puts his head in his hands. “Christ. Now what do we do?”

Clint shrugged. “Looks like we’re probably going to be raising a baby water dragon together. But aside from that, I had some time to think while I was watching the egg, and I came up with an idea I’d like to try. Mind grabbing a piece of parchment for me?”

Bucky almost snapped that he wasn't Clint’s servant, but then he remembered that the reason Clint couldn't move was because of Bucky’s mistake. They both lost, and the least Bucky could do was try to be helpful in cleaning up the mess. He reached over to his pile of textbooks and pulled out a loose piece of parchment he'd been taking notes on.

“We’re gonna ask Tony for a spell,” Clint said.

“What?!” Bucky winced when he saw the dragon starting to rouse again and lowered his voice. “Clint, everything Tony touches is a disaster.”

“That's true, but most of it ends up being a helpful disaster. The bathrooms in this castle have never smelled better, and I hear he even got his cleaning spell to work most of the time now instead of combining all the cleaning supplies into a unified group that decides to go on strike. And I need him on this.”

Bucky rolled his eyes but dug out a quill anyway. “What should I say?”

“Put, ‘idea: spelled journals for communicating over long distances. A person with a spelled journal can send a message to anyone that they have the code words or number of their spelled journal. Possible name: the StarkPad.’ And make sure you write it really messily, like you're tired or drunk or something.”

Bucky froze mid-sentence. “Why?” he asked suspiciously.

“Tony works best on ideas that he thinks are his own. If you make him think he is the genius behind everything, you get to profit that much sooner.”

“What makes you think that?”

Clint grinned up at Bucky, who felt something in his chest give a strange twinge. “Pepper isn't the one who likes the smell of lavender.”

And that's...that's just...goddamn. That goddamn son of a bitch. Bucky looked away and reminded himself of all the things to hate about Clint Barton. Because he could feel something about to give way, and damn if he had time to put up with a stupid crush in the middle of his last year. Barton, no matter how smart or funny or cute--no, not cute, get it together Barnes--was an asshole. And Bucky was better off staying far away from him. He quickly finished writing the note for Tony and set it on his bed to sneak over to Ravenclaw later.

“You should give it a name.” Clint's voice was soft, and when Bucky looked back he was staring down at the dragon. “Something to call it, at least until it gets released.”

Bucky shivered. He was going to have to spend this school year raising a baby dragon with a guy he definitely didn't have a crush on but who definitely did hate that Bucky was gay. The last thing he wanted to do was name the damn thing.

“What about Nessie the Third? Or Mergon, like mer-dragon?”

Scratch that. The last thing he wanted to do was let Clint name it, apparently.

“Zelyony,” Bucky said firmly. “For the scale color.”

Clint scrunched up his nose. “What language is that?”

“Russian. My grandma spoke it. I still remember a few words. Thought you might appreciate it, since your girlfriend is Russian.”

“What?” Clint tilted his head to one side. “You mean Nat? She's not my girlfriend.”

“Seriously? Just last year you were macking all over her.”

“Well yeah, we used to date. But it didn't work out. I wasn't really her type. She's not big on the romance part of things. We decided to just be friends.”

[](http://i.imgur.com/OsHCh6z.jpg)“Oh. So you’re not dating anyone now?” Bucky swore internally. Why did he ask that? It’s not like it mattered. Clint was straight, and he didn’t like gay people. Though, if that was true, why was Clint going around saying that they were friends?

“Decided to take a break from it for a while. I’ve sort of had a string of bad luck with that sort of thing, so I thought maybe I’d try being single this year.” Clint patted the dragon in his arms. “I think she’s waking up,” he said with a smile.

“She?” Bucky squinted at the dragon. “How can you tell?”

Clint tapped its nose. “Males have an extra horn on their heads, between the main two. They also tend to be more blue in color.” He looked up at Bucky and raised his eyebrows. “It’s your dragon. Didn’t you do any research on it?”

“Didn’t have the time,” Bucky said, though he mostly had just forgotten. “If it’s a girl then I’m changing the name to Zelyonaya.”

“Well whatever her name is, scoot over here so you can hold her.” Clint scratched Zelyonaya under her chin and looked expectantly up at Bucky until he moved to sit next to Clint against his bed. “Put your arms out. I’m going to hand her over. Hopefully she goes without too much fuss.”

“Okay…” Bucky held out his arms toward the dragon and squeezed one eye shut. “What do you think…?”

“Shh.” Clint started to rock Zelyonaya and pull her away from his chest. He scooted a little closer to Bucky and leaned in to pass her over. “She’s still mostly asleep, so I’m hoping that’ll help her to stay calm. And I’ll stay close so she’ll smell me and recognize that she’s still safe.”

Bucky curled his arms around the small dragon and pulled her in. With his left hand he began to stroke her nose. “This okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, you’re doing great. Just hold still there while I grab something.” Clint flipped over and started digging around under his bed. Bucky watched him for a moment, his fingers still absently stroking at Zelyonaya. Clint wiggled a little farther under the bed. “It’s just...there. Hold up, coming out.” His sweater started to ride up as he dragged himself back out, and Bucky quickly looked back down at the dragon.

“Here.” Clint opened a small bag and held up a chunk of meat. “I grabbed this from the kitchen earlier. I’ll feed Zely a piece, then you can.”

“Thanks.” Bucky sighed. “I don’t know why I thought this was a good idea. You’re doing a better job taking care of this thing than I am.”

“Maybe if you stopped thinking of it as a thing it would help.” Clint held the meat dangling between two fingers right in front of Zely’s mouth until she grabbed it. “It’s a creature, and it’s depending on you. Now grab some fish.”

Bucky picked out a piece of meat and held it balanced on the fingers of his left hand. “You’re making it sound like I’ve got a kid or something.” Zely sniffed at the meat and began to nibble.

“You’ve got a pet. They’re like practice kids. You can figure out if you’re ready to have something depending on you all the time for everything. Which I guess you probably aren’t. Good to know now, since actual kids need a lot more than a dog or a dragon.”

“You’re mad at me.” Bucky stared at Clint, who turned away and started rubbing his ear. “Hey, look, I’m sorry I haven’t been here. I promise I’ll try harder.”

Clint pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs. He put his head down on his knees and sighed. “Yeah. It’s okay. That’s just sort of a rough subject for me, y’know?” He turned his head and gave Bucky a small smile. “But you’re going to have to step up now, since it’s not an egg anymore.” Then his smile fell and he jerked back. “Holy crap, dude, pull your hand away!”

“What?” Bucky looked down at where Zely had finished eating the chunk of fish and was gnawing at Bucky’s palm. “Oh, shoot. Here, pass me something else for her to eat.”

Clint stared at Bucky. “That doesn’t hurt?” he asked, finally digging in the bag for another chunk of meat.

“No, I uh. I had an accident, when I was younger.” Bucky waited while Clint dangled the fish in front of Zely and convinced her to eat that and let go of Bucky’s hand. He held it up to look at the damage, which wasn’t too bad aside from some punctures in the skin. “Lost most of my arm, actually. They had to regrow it for me, but the doctor who did it wasn’t able to fix it completely. I lost a lot of the nerve endings in my hand, and it took me a few years to be able to use it right again, but I’m pretty used to it now. And it looks just like a normal hand, so I don’t think about it too much.”

“That is amazing. Can I look at it?”

Bucky held out his hand without thinking for Clint to inspect. And while he didn’t have a lot of feeling in his hands, he was uncomfortably aware of Clint bending over to look so closely at him. Naturally, that was the moment the door swung open again. Bucky whipped his hand back to his chest and glared up at Logan, who just shrugged and went over to flop onto his bed.

“I don’t care what you two decide to get into. Just don’t bother me with any of it.”

“I--it’s not--we’re--” Bucky spluttered.

“Whatever, man,” Logan said. He grabbed a book off his desk. “You’d better keep the water monster away from my stuff, too.”

Zely was starting to squirm in Bucky’s arms. He tried to rock her the way Clint had, but she turned her head and whined at him while trying to bite at his arm again.

“Okay, here, give her back. She’s getting freaked out.” Clint stood and reached down to take Zely. She climbed willingly into his arms, and Clint immediately held her up to his face. “I’m gonna sit with her here. You should go get things to build a nest for her. Sticks, rocks, something soft. If you can get some shells, that would probably be good. Make it smell like home.” He carefully avoided looking Bucky in the face.

“Yeah, all right.” Bucky stood and brushed his hands on his pants. “I…” He felt like he should apologize for something, but he couldn’t figure out what, so he simply stood, arms hanging at his sides, and said, “I guess I’ll be back soon, then.”

Clint shrugged. He laid down on the bed and curled up with Zelyonaya tucked in to his chest. Bucky left them there and went out to look for nesting supplies.


	5. The Quidditch Game

“Why don’t we just get Steve to do it?”

“Because we are playing Gryffindor! Steve is going to be playing, too!”

“Well I don’t know what you want me to do about it.”

“At least try to think of an idea!”

The dorm room door opened, and both Bucky and Clint whipped their heads over to see who it was. Sam walked in sipping from a large mug. He glanced between the other two and leaned with one shoulder against the wall. “Let me guess. Daddy and Daddy are fighting again.”

Bucky’s lip curled and he practically growled. “Would you stop with that?” he said. “We’re actually trying to deal with something here.”

“It’s your dragon!” Despite saying this, Clint kept Zelyonaya firmly planted on his own lap and continued stroking down her side. “I don’t know why I’m the one suddenly in charge of coming up with a sitter!”

“You agreed to help me--”

“And you agreed to help me with my astronomy homework, which you haven’t actually done for two weeks now because you keep saying you have to stay with Zely.”

“Well I do! It’s not fair to just shove her off on Sam and Steve all the time.”

“Then bring her with you!”

“That tower is freezing! She’d die up there!”

“Bring a blanket!”

Sam whistled and shook his head. “Man, you two really are some of the dumbest people in this tower. Just ask Darcy to do it, Buck. You know she’d love it. Just shoot her one of those flirty smiles of yours and you’ll be fine.”

“Darcy and a dragon?” Clint said. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“Then ask Tony, or Bruce, or Jane, or Pepper, or Wanda, or one of the other hundred people we know. This is not as big a deal as you two are trying to make it.” Sam went over and sat down on his bed. He placed his mug gently beside him on the nightstand. “Why are you guys even fighting, anyway? Thought you’d finally sorted things out this last month since Z hatched.”

Bucky glared at Clint. “It’s nothing,” he said.

“Really?” Sam raised an eyebrow.

“Bucky’s mad I made him take care of Zely for an evening while I went out,” Clint snapped. “And I’m mad because every time I need help with something there’s a problem with the dragon but the second I try to do anything on my own he can’t stand to be around her again. Pick a side, Buck.”

“I’m not mad about taking care of Zelyonaya,” Bucky grumbled.

“Then what are you upset about? That I went out on a date? Well guess what, you don’t get to control my dating life any more than I get to control yours.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Clint stood abruptly. The dragon squawked in his arms as he thrust her toward Bucky. “You know what, I’m done with this. I’ll see you at the game.” He stormed out of the room, barely nodding at Sam on his way out.

Sam whistled again and grabbed his drink. “So,” he said, watching as Zely rearranged herself on Bucky’s lap. “That’s what it’s about? Clint went on a date?”

“No,” Bucky said. He glared down at the bed, then sighed and started to pet Zely. “Maybe? God, it’s just, it’s so stupid--”

“You like him. And you got jealous he was going out with someone else.”

“What?! No!” Bucky could feel the heat rising up his neck, though, and shook his head to try to stop the oncoming blush. “I’m...I’m concerned that if he’s dating someone new, his time will be taken up with her.”

“And that’s bad because…?”

“Well, there’s Zely, for one,” Bucky spluttered. “And the quidditch team.”

Sam stared at him for a minute. “That’s what you’re going with? Quidditch? That’s why he can’t go on a date?”

“Shut up.” Bucky flopped back on the bed. When he looked up again, Sam was scribbling in a small journal and grinning. “What are you doing?”

“Talking to Steve.” Sam finished writing a line and flipped the journal around to show Bucky. “Stark came up with it. So far it hasn’t exploded, but I’m being cautious. Steve’s got a journal, and the thing lets out a little noise when I write something for him, and he writes in his and I can see it.”

Bucky stared at the journal wide-eyed. “You’re telling me it worked?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty surprised myself. I was starting to think Tony couldn’t make anything actually useful. But--hold up, Steve has a message for you.” Sam turned the journal around, his hand covering earlier messages but revealing an all-caps message in Steve’s handwriting. YOU ARE AN IDIOT

Bucky scowled at the message. “I’m gonna go look for a dragon-sitter for Zely. You enjoy your StarkPad.” He scooped up Zely and set her on his shoulder as he stormed out the door.

“StarkPad? When did he name them?”

* * *

The team was all suited up and wearing their robes. Bucky checked his gloves for the fifth time. The left one was starting to crack at the palm, but it would probably hold for another game. He also spared a minute to look up at the stands and search for Wanda, who agreed to hold onto Zelyonaya for the game. He spots her sitting under a Gryffindor banner, which made sense since her brother was playing Seeker for the Gryffindor team.

Bucky looked over at his own Seeker, who wore mismatched pads that were falling apart worse than Bucky’s. He was also frowning and had refused to say more than three words to Bucky.

“Okay, bring it in everyone,” Bucky called. He waited until everyone was gathered around him, with Clint hovering at the back of the group. “First game of the year, so this one really counts. Watch out for that beater team. Danvers and Chavez hit hard, and they’re not going to hold back for us. You get down to the goals, wait until someone’s there with you to score. You need someone to distract Odinson until you can get past him. Cage, Wilson, I want you to watch out for Khan. I know it’s tempting to focus on Rogers and Chambers, but Khan’s the quick one and she’ll sneak through if you’re not looking. Barton, you need to stay on point today. Watch the score, and remember that as quick as you are, Maximoff is quicker.”

He looked around the group again. They all looked ready, a little nervous but excited, and Bucky felt confident they’d do well in the game no matter who won. “Okay then. All hands in. On the count of three, badgers. One, two, three!”

“Badgers!” everyone called out. Then they all turned to grab their brooms and head out to the field.

Bucky let Sam take point, facing off against Sif to grab the Quaffle first. He checked that everyone else found their positions. Scott was a little shaky, but he was holding, and Daisy looked positively lethal circling the hoops. The whistle blew, and Bucky put all his attention on the game.

Sif grabbed the ball immediately, racing off down the field by herself. It made her an easy target for Wade, who knocked the back end of her broom and made her fumble. Sam swooped in under and grabbed the quaffle, immediately passing it off to Scott and dodging the bludger Carol sent at him. Scott twisted around Kamala and threw the ball to Bucky, who ran it down and hovered until Sam could reach him. They passed the quaffle back and forth a few times before dropping it down to Scott, who threw it in for the first score of the game.

Thor recovered the ball and tossed it down the field to Steve, who managed to fly over and pass to Sif, who hovered near the other goals. She threw it hard and quick, just missing Daisy’s head as she dived but missed the shot.

The game was fast-paced, with people constantly in motion. Bucky quickly realized the weaknesses of his own team, since Wade barely played defense and left Luke to cover the Hufflepuff chasers, and they still needed to work on some of their plays, but the Gryffindors were also struggling to work as a unit instead of everyone trying to grab the glory. The scores remained fairly even throughout the game, and Bucky tried to keep one ear out for when the announcer called that the snitch was spotted.

He almost missed it anyway, tailing Steve and keeping an eye out for Carol and America while Bruce calmly announced that “It appears Barton has seen something, as he is moving towards a specific spot on the field, with Maximoff tearing off after him. It looks like there may be a collision.”

Bucky gritted his teeth and put on an extra burst of speed to come up alongside Steve and nudge him. It was enough to make him look over at Bucky and grin, which gave Sam the opportunity to dart in and pluck the quaffle from Steve’s arm. Bucky moved in to block Steve so he couldn’t spin and chase after Sam. Scott met Sam at the goal and pretended to grab the quaffle and shoot while Sam scored.

“Wait, Barton has made a last-minute turn to change course entirely, and now Maximoff is making up ground. And it appears that...yes, Barton has captured the snitch, ending the game.” Bruce may have also whispered a small “thank god,” but if he did no one could hear him over the uproar in the stadium.

“Good job, everyone,” Bucky said to the team as they all regrouped on the sidelines. “That was some excellent work out there, Cage. Way to stay on top of everything. Wilson, nice job keeping everyone busy. Lang, Wilson, we were a little rough on some of our plays, but you did great with a lot of those maneuvers. We’ll be sure to practice. Johnson, fantastic job as always. Didn’t even flinch, not even with Chambers coming at you. Barton, good call on the reverse play. Good game everyone. Now let’s go home and get some sleep. Break on ‘badgers.’ One, two, three--”

“Badgers!” Everyone parted with large grins in place.

As they all headed back to change out of their gear and put away their brooms, Bucky reached out to grab Clint’s arm. “Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?”

Clint frowned but turned back. “I do something wrong?”

“No, it’s not you, it’s…” Bucky sighed. “I’m sorry I yelled at you. And I’m sorry I’ve been ditching out on the astronomy stuff. I was angry you went on the date, but not because of Zelyonaya. It’s stupid stuff, and I shouldn’t have done it.”

Bucky hadn’t realized how tense Clint was until he relaxed. His shoulders dropped and a smile crept back onto his face. “Hey, no, I shouldn’t have gotten after you. I was being a jerk about the whole thing. I should’ve just asked Nat to take Zely instead of being an ass. And I’m sorry I ditched out when I promised I’d be there.”

“So we’re good?” Bucky asked, holding out a hand.

Clint took it and gave a solid shake. “Yeah, we’re good.” His smile was back full-force, and Bucky tried to ignore the little leap his heart made at the sight. “Race you back to the dorm.” And he took off running.

“No, I have to go get Zely! Cheat!” Bucky shouted after Clint, but he was still grinning.


	6. Falling

Bucky sat on the roof of the astronomy tower, checking his watch for the fifth time. 9:15. He sighed and bent to grab his bag. Naturally, the one time he’s actually early and prepared, Clint wasn’t there.

The trapdoor of the tower swung open with a bang and Clint’s head popped through. “Hey, sorry I’m late.” He finished climbing up the last few stairs and closed the door gently behind him. “I got caught up with Kate, and then I fell trying to get back and she insisted I go see the nurse even though I insisted I was fine, I get worse than this just walking to class, but she kept insisting that it’s different when you fall off a centaur, which I don’t really buy.”

Now that he was closer, Bucky could see the new bandages plastered across Clint’s face and hands. He had a large cloth wrapped around the top of his head, and his left hand appeared to be in a brace.

“You fell off a centaur?” Bucky asked incredulously. “What were you doing on a centaur?”

“Riding it.” Clint shrugged. “I was doing fine until that tree branch came out of nowhere, but I guess that’s why you’re not supposed to go riding after dark.”

“You sure the centaur didn’t purposely run you into a tree? I’m pretty sure they don’t really like that kind of thing.”

“Aw, no, Goldflame and I are friends. She wouldn’t do that to me. It was just my own stupidity, like always.”

“So why not just heal you up right away?”

“Ha.” Clint’s right arm scratched at his ear. “Something about, you’re in here every other day, maybe if I stop healing you up with magic you’ll actually learn to be careful and stop getting yourself injured. Not that it’s actually done me much good. Nurse Cho is great, but she hasn’t really seemed to pick up on the fact that I’m a walking disaster sometimes.”

“No, I’m pretty sure she’s picked up on it.” Bucky set his bag back down and started digging in it. “You’ve got everything you need?”

Clint sat down on the bench next to Bucky and started pulling out his supplies. “Star chart, pen, timer, parchment, and my notes. It’s actually time to calculate stuff, so if you’re not up for differential equations speak now or be forced to help me solve these things.”

“First things first.” Bucky grabbed a thick sweater out of his bag. “It’s getting cold up here. You need to wear something warmer than that same old jacket you always have.”

Clint gaped at the sweater. “No, I can’t...this is...I’m not just going to take your clothes, Buck.” Despite his words, his hands reached out and tangled in the softness of the sweater.

“My grandma made it for me two years ago and she never knew how big I actually was so the sleeves are too long. It's also purple, since I guess she decided I couldn't wear my actual favorite colors since I'm not in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, and she just decided to combine the red and blue or something. I hate wearing it, and you need something so that you’re not shivering all the time.” Bucky held it out a little more, but Clint still just kept staring at it. “Just please take the damn thing.” Bucky tried to cover his small whine with an exasperated sigh, though he wasn’t sure if it had worked.

“That’s...that’s really nice of you, Bucky.” Clint took the sweater with a small smile. “Thank you.”

“Like I said. I don’t want it anyway.” Bucky looked down to try and hide the heat crawling up the back of his neck. “Here, you’ve got a bad arm. Let me help you get it on.”

The two fumbled with the sweater for a moment until Bucky finally bunched it up and instructed Clint to raise his hands up so Bucky could slide it on. As he did so, Bucky’s right hand brushed against Clint’s hair accidentally-completely-on-purpose. It was incredibly soft, he noted to himself before shoving the thought away.

The sweater was still too big on Clint, who just rolled up the ends of the sleeves and shook the rest of it down so it pooled a little at his hips. Not that Bucky was noticing his hips. Damn. Bucky took another minute to remind himself that Clint was dating, had been out late with his girlfriend, and was at least at one point homophobic. In other words, completely off the table.

“Okay, let’s get started,” Clint said, rubbing again at his ear and then scratching at the bandage on his head. “I’m working on a proof for the movements of the planets based on Newton’s laws of magic and physics. I checked this over the summer while I was at home, and unfortunately for everyone involved the equation is a lot simpler when it’s just the muggle side of things. The magical equation integration is what makes this really hard, since it has to account for the fluctuation of the magical matter as it’s used by the wizarding community.” Clint rattled on for a while longer about magical theory, but Bucky started to tune him out once he started using words like “photoprobaic receptors” and “quasimagical redundancies.”

“Basically,” Clint said, finally winding down, “this is the equation, and we need to determine the base amount of magic trapped between us and each planet and apply it to the basic movement of each planet to predict the effects on the magical world in the upcoming months. We’ll determine magic content with this--” he patted a large metal instrument next to him that looked vaguely like a telescope but with more knobs and lenses than Bucky remembered seeing “--and record the amounts to finish the math. So which part do you want, observation or math?”

“Well I think you’re the only one who knows what to look for, so you should probably be in charge of the observations and I’ll work on the math,” Bucky said. The equation itself didn’t look too complex, no more so than some of Bucky’s regular math homework, and he figured if Clint gave him the numbers he could finish that up while Clint looked for the next piece of information.

“Great! I was sort of hoping you’d be willing to work out the actual equation. It’s not really my strong suit.” Clint passed over the notes and a spare piece of parchment. “Copy this part and then when I say plug the number in here.”

Bucky nodded and took the papers. The two worked through the planets, starting from the innermost planet and working out. Around the time that Clint was looking for Jupiter, Bucky dug into his bag again and pulled out a large thermos.[](http://i.imgur.com/TEkin0e.jpg)

“I’ve got hot chocolate,” he said. “You should take some. Take a break. We’re already doing really well, over halfway done.”

Clint turned back to Bucky a little groggily. He looked down at the thermos and a huge grin broke out on his face. “Oh my god, I think I love you,” he said, reaching out for the cup.

The words caught in Bucky’s mind, and he let Clint take the thermos without resistance. After a few seconds he had recuperated enough to laugh when Clint took a large sip and jerked back, holding out his tongue and looking completely betrayed.

“Watch out, it’s hot,” he said belatedly.

“No kidding,” Clint said, tongue still hanging out of his mouth. With his oversized sweater and the bandages covering his body, he should have looked completely ridiculous. Certainly Bucky had thought so every other time Clint had walked in looking like that. But this time...it was sort of endearing.

So what if Clint wasn’t available to date for one reason or another. So what if he’d once been an asshole. He wasn’t an asshole now, he was a nice guy who had offered to help Bucky and joined the quidditch team and was sitting on the top of an astronomy tower going crosseyed trying to look and see if his tongue was burned, and Bucky just wanted to lean in and kiss his stupid face.

He wouldn’t do it. What kind of jerk would that make him? Kissing someone without permission, when they didn’t even want it. Instead, Bucky picked up the papers again and refocused on the work. He would not kiss Clint, but he definitely was going to do his best to be a good friend.

* * *

 “No, Zelyonaya, spit that out!” Bucky launched himself across the room to grab the dragon, who was nibbling on Clint’s pillow. As he drew close, she squawked and dove off the bed and into the bath of salt water set up between Clint and Bucky’s bed. Bucky rolled across Clint’s bed to reach after her, finally managing to grab her out of the bath and haul her, still dripping, to his chest. There she stretched up her neck and started gnawing at the collar of his sweater. “Zely, no,” he said, tugging at the fabric. “This is my favorite sweater. Here.” He reached down and pulled out the bag of meat. “Eat this.”

She latched onto the offered treat. Bucky used the distraction to dig in his drawer for a holey - but clean - sock.” Chew on this if you have to.” He adjusted Zely so she was draped across his shoulders. She hooked onto the sock and held it with her forefeet as she started to tear it apart with her teeth.

“That can’t be healthy for her.” Steve dumped his bag at the bottom of Sam’s bed. “Socks in general and your socks in particular. What’s going on?”

“I don’t know.” Bucky ran his hand along Zely’s nose. “She started freaking out and eating everything in sight. I was going to ask Clint about it, but he isn’t back yet.”

“I think he was going out to the forest with Kate. They’ll probably be gone a while.” Steve came up and scratched Zely between the horns. She pressed into the touch as she always did, but Steve pulled back when her skin started to peel away. “Maybe you should try to find him.”

Bucky stared at the patch of peeling skin on Zelyonaya’s head. He didn’t want to interrupt Clint on his date, but he wanted even less for something to happen to Zely. “Yeah, maybe you’re right. Got an idea where they went?”

“They entered the forest by Hagrid’s. You can probably just follow the trails, maybe call for him.”

“Actually.” Bucky turned and looked around Clint’s area. He grabbed the tie hanging off the end of the bed. “I’ll just use a tracking spell.” He wound the tie around his wrist. “All right, I’ll see you later.”

Halfway outside he realized that he probably should have left Zelyonaya inside. But he figured if he turned around he might not have the willpower to come out again. Plus, he was lazy. So instead of going back to the dorm he kept his let hand up on Zely’s neck and just kept going.

At the edge of the forest, he grabbed his wand and murmured the tracking spell. The tie on his right wrist glowed brighter the closer he got to Clint. Bucky kept his left hand on Zely and stepped into the forest.

Half an hour later, he stopped and glared at the tie. It brightened and dimmed without him moving at all. “Oh come on, Clint, stop moving!”

Zely, still on Bucky’s shoulder, raised her head and trilled loudly.

Bucky stared at her. “How long have you been able to do that?”

She went back to chewing on what was left of Bucky’s sock. Bucky was distracted from his staring at her by the distant sound of hoofbeats. He checked Clint’s tie and found it growing steadily brighter.

“Shit,” he whispered. He stood in shock as a herd of centaurs came charging through the trees in front of him. “Oh shit.” He squeezed his eyes closed. The sound of the stampede grew and split around him, joined by the rushing wind of many bodies. Once it seemed like he was definitely not about to be run over, he eased one eye open.

Zelyonaya squirmed on his shoulder. Bucky pulled her down into his arms, and she twisted to look around. She made a clicking noise, repeating it as she searched the herd. “Kit, kit, kit!”

The tie on Bucky’s wrist glowed bright and winkled out, marking the end of the trace. Zely wriggled out of his arms and crawled to the top of his head. “Kit, kit, kit, kit!” she chirped.

Then he saw it. Clint rode standing up on the back of a centaur, carrying a bow and arrow poised to fire. He released the shot up into the trees. Bucky tracked it to see a five-inch target nestled up in the branches. By the time he looked back to Clint, there was another arrow notched and Clint was aiming again. He fired two arrows at once, slung the bow over his back, and jumped up to hang off a low-hanging branch. The rest of the centaurs cleared out, and Clint dropped to the ground.

“Cut!” Bucky spun to see a girl with dark hair tied up in a bun on her head. She wore purple pants and a blue plaid shirt, which was the excuse Bucky used internally to explain why he took a while to recognize her as Kate Bishop, who he usually saw in Slytherin green.

She strode over to Clint and waved a handful of papers. “You were supposed to flip at the end! Where was the flip, Barton?”

“I was afraid I’d lose the bow,” he said, rubbing his ear again. “Maybe I should skip the flip.”

“Absolutely not. The flip is what sells it! You won’t impress anyone without the flip!”

Bucky cleared his throat. “I was pretty impressed.”

Clint and Kate whirled to face him. Clint flushed bright red and tried to hide behind Kate, who was nearly a foot shorter than him. She meanwhile just crossed her arms and frowned at Bucy.

“Don’t you think it’s kind of rude to sneak up on someone?” she asked.

“I needed to talk to Clint.” Bucky reached up and pulled Zely off his head. “I was having trouble with Zelyonaya. I thought maybe...maybe he could help.”

Clint emerged from behind Kate and practically ran over to Bucky. Behind him, Kate rolled her eyes and started looking up at the arrows in the trees.

“What’s wrong with her?” Clint asked, taking Zely from Bucky’s hands. “Is she throwing up? Lethargic?” He plucked at the threads dangling from Zely’s mouth. “What the hell is this? Did this come from her?”

“Uh, no, that’s an old sock.”Bucky winced under Clint’s incredulous stare. “She wouldn’t stop chewing on things! I had to give her something.”

Clint pulled away the remains of the sock. “She’s probably growing in her next set of teeth.” He scratched Zely’s chin. “And she’s shedding. About time. I was starting to worry.” He glanced up at Bucky. “She’s hitting a growth spurt. Should be learning to wash her claws and developing her vocal chords.”

“Oh. Really? I guess that explains the--”

“Kit, kit, kit, kit!”

“--the that.”

“Yup, there she goes.” Clint grinned and held her up to his face. “Were you scaring Bucky?”

“Kee, kee!” Zely rolled her head back to look at Bucky. Clint chuckled as he rubbed her neck. “Look. She even knows who you are.” He held out his hands to pass Zely back to Bucky.

Bucky lifted Zely out of Clint’s hand and set her back on his shoulders. “Well, now I feel bad for interrupting you on your date. Since it wasn’t anything serious.”

There was a loud yelp from the clearing. Clint spun and the boys stared up at Kate, who hung upside-down from a tree. “Interrupt his _what_?” she screeched.

Clint turned back to Bucky with a disgusted look. “She’s, like, a third-year,” he said. “Why would I date her?”

Bucky’s gaze flickered from Clint to Kate, who was attempting to haul herself back up into the tree. “Because you went on a date? And you were hanging out together?”

“We were hanging out because Katie-Kate--”

“Don’t call me that!”

“Is the only other person at this school who’s good at archery. She and I decided to practice it together.” Clint shuddered. “I couldn’t date her. She’s just a kid!”

“So who were you on the date with, then?” Bucky crossed his arms across his chest.

Kate had managed to get upright on the branch again. She made a grab at the arrows buried in the tree trunk.

“Uh.” Clint pulled at his ear. “Wade.”

“Wade Wilson?!” At Bucky’s explosion, Zely squawked again and dug sharp claws into his shoulder.

“I know, I know, it was dumb. I shouldn’t have done it. It was weird, and I think he mostly did it to get the attention of another guy, but--”

“But you hate gays!” Bucky stared at Clint.

“Uh, no, I am gay,” Clint replied.

“Technically,” Kate shouted, “You’re bi.”

“Well, yeah. That. I like girls, and also guys.”

“But, but you,” Bucky stuttered. “But you always...you were always so rude whenever I was with someone. I thought you hated me because I was gay.”

“Oh my god.” Kate dropped out of the tree and tucked the arrows into Clint’s quiver. “He was always angry because he likes you, dumbass. It’s called jealousy.”

“You - what?”

Clint frowned. “You thought I hated gay people? Is that why you were always avoiding me?”

“I didn’t - I - You…” Bucky felt like his brain was short-circuiting. He took another step toward Clint, arm stretching out to grab...something. Maybe an arm, though Bucky thought he would be content with a handful of sweatshirt.

“Why do you think he kept that dumb purple sweater you gave him?” Kate started climbing another tree. “That thing is ugly and scratchy. And he agreed to help with the dragon, and he joined the quidditch team. He’s been dragging me out here for weeks now to work on a routine to impress you.”

“This...this was for me?”

Clint blushed high on his cheeks. “Yeah. Did it work?”

Bucky’s hand tangled with Clint’s. He nodded. “Though I liked you even without you needing to show off.”

Clint grinned back. “This isn’t showing off, it’s--”

“For god’s sake, just kiss already!” Kate cried.

Bucky wasn’t sure who closed the last gap of space. He closed his eyes again as his lips pressed to Clint’s. He felt Clint’s mouth turn up in a smirk and his other hand slide into Bucky’s. When he pulled back, Clint was bright-eyed and wearing a huge smile.

[ ](http://i.imgur.com/Z5gV9Ay.jpg)

Zelyonaya scooted forward to lay her head on Clint’s shoulder. She also wrapped her tail around Clint’s neck.

“Well, I guess we’re stuck like this forever, then,” Bucky joked.

“That’s fine by me.” Clint leaned in for another kiss.

Kate groaned. “I take it back, kiss later. This is worse than the talking. Come help me get these arrows. Clint. Clint!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Art by [templeait](http://templeait.tumblr.com).


	7. Epilogue

Bucky wrestled with his mirror for what felt like the thousandth time, trying to tie the bow around his neck. “Come on, come on...oh come on!”

“Hey, how’s it going over there?” Clint asked from his side of the room.

“It’s always crooked!” Bucky said, pulling off the tie and throwing it onto his bed. “Forget it, I’m not going.”

“If I’m going to go wearing Gryffindor red, you can go with a crooked tie.” Clint stepped out from behind the other side of the wardrobe door and headed for Bucky. “Come on, give me the tie.”

Bucky stood and let Clint work on fixing the tie. His eyes drifted down to the inch of space between Clint’s shoes and the ends of his pants. “I was hoping those would fit better,” he said.

“They’re a ton better than what I had before. There, you’re done.” Clint spun Bucky to face the mirror. “I’m just happy to not be scavenging out of the lost and found this year. And at least I’m not swimming in this one. Thor’s old robe was massive. At least Steve’s fits pretty well.”

Bucky tapped at the perfectly done tie around his neck. “Well, I think you look good. Even if you’re in red. You look good in every color.”

“Aww, that’s sweet.” Clint leaned in to place a kiss on Bucky’s cheek. “I wish I could say the same, but let’s be honest, yellow was never your color.”

“Rude,” Bucky said with a grin. “Remind me why I’m dating you?”

“I’m the only one at school who can still kick your ass at darts. And I’m a damn good seeker.”

“Right, yes, you’re perfect, and I’m lucky to have you.”

Clint smiled and wrapped his hand in Bucky’s. “If it helps, I definitely still fell for you first. Actually, it was at the Yule Ball, so happy anniversary of my crush.”

“Seriously? When I was wearing this?” Bucky gestured at his dress robes.

“Mmm.” Clint looked down Bucky’s body and licked his lips. “I mean, not exactly this, since it was back in fourth year, but yeah. I love a man in a good suit.”

Bucky’s eyes roved over Clint as well, from the bandage still across his eyebrow, along the vest buttoned across his chest, down to the scuffed shoes. “Yeah, I guess I can see the appeal,” he said. He leaned in for another kiss.

The door swung open. “Everyone dressed?” Steve shouted.

“Oh my god, _yes_!” Bucky said. “It wasn’t funny with Clint and it isn’t funny now!”

“I think it’s kind of funny.” Clint chased after Bucky’s lips. “Come back here, I wasn’t done.”

“You’re going to have to be done.” Sam stepped into the room after Steve and folded his arms across his chest. “We’re about to start. And I’m not going to stand around here waiting for you. Let’s go.”

“What if we were a little late?” Clint whispered.

Bucky kissed him lightly and wrapped an arm through Clint’s. “Next time.”

“Zely going to be okay?” Steve asked. He looked down at the dragon curled up in her nest next to the bed.

Clint waved a hand. “She’ll be fine. She’s been sleeping through the night for weeks now.”

“You know, I think I’m going to be sad to see her go at the end of the year,” Bucky admitted. 

“Keeping a dragon long-term is a little unrealistic, Buck,” Steve said, holding the door open for everyone to walk through ahead of him.

Clint brightened. “Let’s get a dog! Doesn’t that sound nice?”

“Discuss your domestic home lives later,” Sam said. “Everyone’s waiting for us at the Great Hall.” He pulled out his StarkPad and started scribbling. “Natasha says hurry up or she’s going to place the whoopee cushions without us.”

“We’re coming!” Bucky rolled his eyes. As they passed through the common room, he pulled Clint aside and shooed the others on. “We’ll catch up, just give us a minute.”

“What’s up?” Clint asked. “Is there something wrong?”

“No, I wanted to show you something.” He took a deep breath and carefully began shaping his hands, first his right hand held up with thumb and forefinger out in an open circle, then his right forefinger to his left palm, then moving his right forefinger up to the tip of his left middle finger. He stuck his tongue out as he went through a series of motions, ending by pointing at himself, crossing his arms over his chest, and pointing at Clint.

Clint was glowing by the end. “You’re learning sign?” he asked quietly.

“A little,” Bucky admitted. “I could use a teacher, though. Someone really smart, and nice, and maybe a little cute. Think you know anyone like that?”

“We could probably find someone.” Clint leaned in for another kiss. “We’re sure we can’t be late?”

“Positive.” Bucky pulled Clint away again. “But if you’re good, maybe we can fake an emergency and slip away early.”

“Barnes, I like the way you think.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bucky's sign language at the end: "C-L-I-N-T, I love you." (British Sign Language)
> 
> Thank you for reading! This has been a fun (if exhausting) week, and I hope you enjoyed it as well.
> 
> Many thanks to [ottobarnes](http://archiveofourown.org/users/ottobarnes/pseuds/ottobarnes) for her help this week, and thanks again to [templeait](http://templeait.tumblr.com) for their beautiful artwork.
> 
> You can find me on tumblr at [girlouttaplace](http://girlouttaplace.tumblr.com).


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